Don't let the cat out of the box!

... I mean bag!

Elphie is hilarious.

And here's Ginger, also up to no good. She enticed Nikki into giving her a spoonful of what was left of Nikki's mint chocolate chip ice cream. What a spoiled brat!

And now outside. Here's my latest Red Rum, all dewy from today's rain.

These Wave Petunias are OUT OF CONTROL.

Look! They're climbing a tree!!

And who knew my little lupine was going to make a comeback? I certainly didn't. I would have pruned it down if I'd known.

Look at that little thing. So cute.

Little Italy, with a branch of Russian sage in the foreground.

Siloam Reds.

I took this picture to show how tall the dahlias are getting. They're just to the right of the lilies, and right behind the lysimachia. (You can also see how tall the glads are getting, on the right.)

As requested, here's the entire lily garden, but as I said, they're not all in bloom at the same time. Wouldn't it be great if they were??

Strutter's Ball is fantastic. I love it!

Get a load of that color! Mmm!

YAMS! You Are My Sunshine is one of my faves now.

And get a load of these peaches!!

There are so many of them.

This one's probably the biggest of the group, but they're all pretty good size!

This is my new winter hardy hibiscus, Luna Pink Swirl. Unfortunately, she's the same color as the grass.

Here's my little rosebush, Comte de Chambord.

I couldn't get it to focus right, but isn't it cute?

Dan wreaked all this destruction the other day with his new hedge clippers. :)

My purty hostas. I just love the little lavender bells.

So nice!

Look at this wee small cat, dozing off! :)

You Are My Sunshine!

Welcome, pretty lily! Isn't it gorgeous?

And here's another Siloam Double Classic bloom.

And heeeeere's Strutter's Ball! Sorry it was so dark -- obviously it was nighttime.

Little Italy was going crazy.

So purty.

The Russian Sage and Gaillardia are looking good.

Red Rum!

Siloam Red in the light.

Mona Lisa!

Bordeaux, looking gorgeous and branching out very far.

The little Lemon Zest petunias are just so happy!

Our neighbor brought over her new kitten for us to meet. Her name is Sable, and she's adorable. She's kind of like a Weeble... her balance and equilibrium are all messed up because she was born backwards, according to our neighbor.

She's squirmy!

But she sure is cute.

She's sniffin' my toes.

Here are Dan and me at a restaurant today, having lunch with some friends. :)

I couldn't believe the size of these hanging baskets. Wild!

And speaking of hanging, as in hanging out, here's Elphie in a bucket. She just loves being inside things.

Terribly sorry!

I'm sorry I've been gone so long!

But as you can see, I was held hostage by malicious kitties!

Elphie LOVES these recycled shopping bags.

Oh, who am I kidding? She loves anything she can climb into.

D was quite fond of Ginger when he came over, but I'm afraid the feeling is not mutual.

SURPRISE!! Next to the secret rosebushes are some SECRET STRAWBERRIES! Sssshhh, little mouse, don't tell the big hungry bear!

Elphie, devising her Grand Escape...

... and playing it cool.

My Mona Lisa Stargazers! They started peeking open just before we left for Chicago.

Don't they look shy?

A random statue in Chicago, and me impersonating them.

Look at all those lilies!!

Gorgeous! (Not me. The flowers.)

These are all Chicago lilies, not out of my garden.

This one kind of looks like a spider lily.

Love it.

This one's for Anna. "Real Pirates"!

And these bird ones are for Mom. :)

Canada geese!

A speckled seagull.

Such a STRANGE statue/fountain outside of the Shedd Aquarium.

We love illusions.

Another birdie.

My new buddy at the Shedd.

Modeling the sweater I bought. (They didn't have any mirrors, so I had to see how they looked via the camera.)

These fishies have totally huge foreheads.

The skyline.

THIS THING IS A TOTAL FOSSIL! I'm pretty sure he's been around since he crawled out of the primordial ooze just moments before what turned out to be humans. Look at that tail!!

And that totally creepy mouth!! He's a snapping turtle of some kind.

Cute little chameleon.

Yaaaay Art Institute!

Sad Indian. Dan has bookends that are (definitely smaller) copies of this.

I love the lion. When it comes time for Christmas gifts, please remind Dan that I would love the figurine of the lion that was at the gift shop. ;)

The Bean!!

Gotta love the wacky reflection shots.

Beautiful weather for our trip to Millenium Park.

I'm pretty sure there would have been trouble if the uptight people inside the Cultural Center had seen this.

Gooorgeous.

Beautiful!

And now back to our garden!

Happy Returns. :)

And THIS is Siloam Double Classic! Yay for her!

Isn't she purty? She's my first double!

And here are my Mona Lisa Stargazers open!